God is dancing in my heart

God's timing never ceases to amaze me.  Never.  It's never what I would plan, and no matter how much I hem and haw and think my timing would be better and why doesn't He just do it my way...His is always better. And last Monday was no exception.

I am doing this amazing Bible study by Beth Moore entittled Stepping Up: The Psalms Of Ascent. Amazing study...and I will go into that at another post. Monday I was doing my daily "homework" and it talked about praying for your family members who are saved and thanking God for that, and praying for the ones who aren't.  So I had my list, and my little angel Chloe was on the "not" list.  After all she's almost 4...and hasn't really gotten to the point of "getting" the idea of salvation.  So I prayed for her protection until she can get to the point of accepting Christ, pretty typical mom prayer stuff.  Well, little did I know the night God had in store for us.

At bedtime we all took turns praying and as always Chloe's went like this "Thank you God for mommy and daddy and Se-ya and SunShine.  And thank you Jesus for dying on the cross to take the punishment for the bad stuff we do, so we can be in Heaven with you. In Jesus' name amen."  She always prays that, we spend a lot of time talking about Jesus, after all, He is a pretty big deal.  But I never had felt like she was doing much more than reciting what she's been taught, until...

Right after her prayer, she turned to me and said, "Mom, did you know Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for the bad stuff we do, so we could go to Heaven with Him?" And that was it.  I felt it.  The Holy Spirit was tugging on her heart...and God had me praying that day, not just a normal everyday mom prayer, but He let me be a part of this special, life changing, eternity changing day.

So I replied, "I know! Isn't that amazing! And did you know that all you have to do is pray, and tell Jesus that you know you do bad things, and you need Him to forgive you and you want Him to live in your heart forever...and He says yes! And then you are forgiven and Jesus lives in your heart forever and ever! Would you like to pray that with me?"

And she said Yes, and she repeated that prayer after me, right there on her bed at 6pm on Monday Oct 25th. And her sister and I were elated! Serena was smiling and congratulating her, and I was trying not to cry. And I told her that the Bible says when anyone asks Jesus into their heart that God and the angels rejoice in Heaven.  They sing and dance and have a party because Chloe is forgiven! So then we called Daddy in and she told Daddy how she told Jesus she knew she did bad stuff and she wanted Him to forgive her and live in her heart. And we hugged and smiled and laughed and then called Grandma and Pappa, and Chloe told them the story, with the biggest grin on her face, and she kept telling them "God is dancing in my heart!"

And you know what, I think He is.

Now, I know an almost 4 year old doesn't grasp the concept of redemption the way you and I do.  And I know that someday she will have to take a hold of her faith and make it her own.  And someday all of that will happen.  Someday she will fall in love with Jesus on a deeper level than she can even imagine now.  But as far as her little heart is concerned, she needed Jesus, and she asked Him in faith to make His home in her heart, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that she meant it.  And someday I am going to get to see all the great plans He has for her life, and I will get to see all the amazing things she will do for Him.  But for now I get to revel in the fact that a 3 1/2 year old loves her Jesus with all her heart...and He is dancing inside of it.